Before May of this year, most non-techies had never heard of ransomware but when the Wannacry outbreak infected Britain’s hospital computers, Germany’s rail network and Spain’s main telecoms provider, everyone soon sat up and started taking network security more seriously.
So today we’re counting down the ten most hilarious, visionary and ironic ransomware tweets and memes from around the world, including some eye-opening truths about other countries…
At Number 10 is a popular ransomware themes – how Linux just bosses Windows at overall network security. South Korean company Nayana may have something to say about that after they paid a $1 million ransom this month when its Linux-based servers were attacked.
Next is one of our favorites that was doing the rounds during the WannaCry outbreak, but since it’s not strictly for ransomware, we’ve included it at Number Nine on our list.
Our first tweet is one of two from India. Hackers thought they had pwn’d Faizal, so he e-mailed explaining how little he earned. Not only did the hackers unencrypt his locked files and send a lovely little apology note, they also asked for a donation for coffee if Faizal liked their ransomware…
Which is a bit like terrorists kidnapping your children, you not paying up so they return your kids unharmed then ask if you want to sponsor them for a charity fun run!
Number Seven in our countdown is a retweet of a Dilbert cartoon. You might be laughing now but when someone turns your iWatch into a microwave oven and starts cooking your arm from the inside out you’ll find it less humerus.
Speaking of not funny. Number Six would kinda ruin your day… or the next eighteen years of your life!
Number Five: This wouldn’t be a meme countdown without Morpheus from The Matrix saying “What if I told you…” or Sean Bean’s Boromir from The Lord of the Rings saying “One does not simply…”
Nor would a meme countdown be complete without Dr Evil’s treacherous demands…
And speaking of evil, Indian tweeter Godman Chikna found a novel way to protect himself from ransomware with this Hindi charm for fending off evil spirits.
Number Two shows us that everyone is vulnerable to attack, even Iron Man. The question is, with all the money in the world, would Tony Stark give in to terrorism if Jarvis (the Iron Man suit OS) were hijacked mid-air?
And finally, straight in at Number One in our countdown of Top Ten Ransomware Tweets and Memes of all time comes a less colorful, but infinitely more important tweet:
Yes folks, this unassuming tweet from MalwareTechBlog is probably the most important tweet in the history of ransomware. The 22-year-old, surf and pizza-loving blogger from Cornwall, England single-handedly killed the WannaCry cyber attack.
The self-taught computer expert, who works for Los Angeles-based threat intelligence company Kryptos Logic, accidentally triggered the kill switch by buying an unregistered malware control server (C2) domain name he found buried in the malware… for $10.69.
We think he deserves a medal. A medal made of pizza. Worth $10.70.
We hope your enjoyed our countdown of our favorite ransomware tweets and memes, we’ll be back with more news, articles, thoughts and tips on ransomware very soon.
Until then, stay safe and don’t have cyber-nightmares.
